Kings-seat

Names such as Kings-seat and Kingseat (both DFL), and Earlseat WMS probably refer to places connected with the hunt, royal and comital respectively. A seat or set (Sc set) was where the hunters waited for game such as deer to be driven towards them. (Gilbert 1979, 54).[118]

This settlement, deep in the sparsely populated Cleish Hills, between Roscobie Muir and Loch Glow, lies in the middle of what would have once been ideal hunting country in relatively easy reach of the royal residence in Dunfermline. The ‘seat’ itself is what appears on OS Pathf. as Kings-seat Knowe, which rises to a height of 304 metres a short distance north of the farm, and commands good views over a wide area. Local tradition as recorded in the OS Name Books in 1853 also connected this hill with the royal hunt, believing that kings of Scotland took ‘luncheon’ there while hunting the wolves which once abounded in the district (6, 23). The name Park Hill (q.v.), about 2 km to the west, is also indicative of a hunting landscape, park often referring to enclosed or emparked hunting reserves.

It has also generated OS Pathf. Heights of Kings-seat and Kings-seat Moss.